Collaboration Imperative Leads To Hybrid Solutions

Overview: The bring-your-own-device phenomenon has led to many productivity gains, but it has also brought its share of challenges. An increasingly mobile workforce - one composed of remote employees, business partners and customers all requiring access to business-critical information - has resulted in a growing number of software-as-a-service and mobile platforms that IT must support and integrate with what's behind the corporate firewall.

To achieve some measure of collaboration, some individuals and groups have turned to unmanaged and unsanctioned cloud-based platforms such as Dropbox, much to the dismay of IT executives who then must identify and mitigate a host of security, governance and data-leakage challenges that consumer-grade sharing and collaboration sites can present. Meanwhile, companies that continue to rely solely on on-premises collaboration solutions are likewise challenged to meet the demands of their ever-widening circle of constituents outside the firewall.

Fortunately, a new solution in the form of hybrid on-premises and cloud collaboration platforms is taking shape. These platforms combine the familiarity and benefits of on-premises collaboration tools, such as low-latency and high-speed transfers, with the ubiquity and scalability of cloud-based platforms that integrate seamlessly with corporate directory structures, security schemas, and access methods and protocols.